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Wine tasting at Jay & Meredith's
Kirkland, WA, USA
Tasted March 29, 2003 by Eric with 1,260 views
Introduction
Our friends Jay & Meredith hosted a "wine tasting" party for friends where each person brought a bottle or two. This was a non-wino crowd for the most part.
Flight 1 - WHITES (4 notes)
White
2000 Mason Cellars Sauvignon Blanc
Grapefruit, slate and grass on the nose. Rather flat on the palate with a weak finish.
White
1998 Bulletin Place Chardonnay
Nasty plastic on the nose. Barbie Doll! Nice, supple body, but still more plastic on the palate.
Flight 2 - REDS (12 notes)
Red
1998 Terra d'Oro Winery Zinfandel Deaver Vineyard Old Vine
Grapey, hot and peppery. This has a sweet entry, dry palate, like grape jelly on the finish.
Red
1999 Leonetti Cellar Sangiovese
My bottle. At first it showed a lot of toast on the nose and lots of acid on the palate. With time the palate really filled out and gained a lovely sweetness. Medium finish. However, with time this also developed a strange 'plasticene' note on the nose which I found really off-putting. Meredith and several others seemed to like it a great deal, but it wasn't among my favorites of the tasting lineup.
Red
2000 L'Ecole No. 41 Merlot Estate Seven Hills Vineyard
Coffee and lots of alcohol on the nose. Nice body with loads of tannin and acid. This is very disjointed and awkward.
Red
1995 Byington Merlot
The nose shows a massive herbal note (in a good way) with some heat. On the palate and finish this is a different story. Great juice and personal WOTN!
Red
1996 Bonair Merlot
Aggressively herbal nose, green tobacco. Very offputting. With time the nastiest ashtray smell ever emerges. Nasty, not tasted, DNPIM!
Red
1996 Bonair Cabernet Sauvignon
Medicinal nose with a subtle ash (bitter ashtray really) element. Thin, ascerbic, bitter on the palate.
Red
1999 Waterbrook Cabernet Sauvignon
Oak, oak, and more OAK! Some licorice peeking out. Big, primary palate. Very dry tannins.
Red
1994 Joseph Phelps Insignia
Nowhere near as nice as the same wine tasted 5 days earlier at the Library Bistro offline. (Still, it's quite a nice week when one gets to taste Insignia 1994 on two occasions!) Licorice and coffee on the nose. Remarkable purity on the palate.
Red
1995 Château Haut-Bages Averous
Earthy, dark, and medicinal on the nose. Well resolved palate. Strong finish. My #3 WOTN.
Red
1991 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley
This was a magnum that Meredith had been holding for a while. The cork was not in terribly good shape (showed a fair bit of seepage), but the wine seemed to be doing OK. Presumably the large format helped quite a bit. Classic aged CA-Cab nose with medicinal elements. Super-sweet on the entry. Soft, resolved palate. Smooth finish. Nice wine. My #3 WOTN.
Red
2001 Marquis Philips Cabernet Sauvignon S2
91 points
My bottle. I opened and decanted this 30 hours early. Right out of the bottle it was an oaky, alcoholic, chocolatey mess. However, after a day it had settled down quite a bit and was drinking very well. A number of people flipped over it, a real crowd pleaser as can be expected for the style of wine. This stuff is black syrup, totally opaque. Massive extraction. Coffee and oak are bursting on the nose. On the palate this is profound stuff. Cough-syrup thick, remarkable sweetness, nice layering of flavors. My written notes are very terse: "PROFOUND STUFF!!!" In reality, this was a wine I could easily appreciate from a distance but not one which I care to drink that often or that much of. Impressive but not quite my style.